But one of the most valuable lessons McCrimmon will ever get at North Carolina Central came not in the form of a lecture or textbook, but in a massive restructuring of the university itself that will eliminate — among other things — degrees in several majors, including public administration and sociology.
“Nobody wants their program cut,” said McCrimmon, who, as student body president, also is a voting member of the board of trustees. “But when you look at the overall view of the university, you certainly have to understand.”
The restructuring — announced in February as “the most comprehensive academic review undertaken by the university in more than 30 years” — involves the merging or phasing out of more than a dozen academic programs.
The university says the elimination of degree programs was driven by enrollment, retention and graduation rates, degrees awarded and job placement rates. Beyond the elimination of the public administration and sociology degrees, but not the classes, the changes also involve merging several departments and programs. The computer information systems and computer science programs, for instance, will become one, and the mathematics and physics departments will merge into a single department.
The College of Science and Technology will be merged with the College of Liberal Arts to create the College of Arts and Sciences — an arrangement the college had before.
Fourteen administrative positions will be eliminated and other administrative “efficiency enhancements” will be made. Changes range from having more trash receptacles for people to dispose of their own trash in order to lessen the workload of janitors, to doing more paperwork digitally instead of on paper.
